Welcome to "Dust, Tears & Dice", a blog dedicated to the hobby of miniature wargaming.
If you fancy gaming periods off the beaten track then this is the place for you.
I am a regular member of The Wyvern Wargamers, formerly The Evesham Wargames Club drawing gamers from Worcester, Redditch, Kidderminster, Cheltenham and Stratford.
All players welcome.

Saturday, January 03, 2015

Out with the old in with the new....

The first posting of 2015 and the last of the WW2 support elements for 15mm Russo-German Chain of Command.

Unusually I normally have the terrain completed before I get the figures done, but in this case my desire to play out the final month of WW2 on the Eastern front (Due largely to a great read "Zhukov on the Oder") has left me somewhat short of suitable terrain, most of my existing collection has a summer or desert feel to it, Eastern Germany in February was a lot more wintery.....

I have yet to decide on a brown cloth with a white dusting or a white cloth with a Brown dusting.

Thoughts please..?

In any event it needs to fit in with my current basing style which stills gives me the option of playing on the regular TSS type terrain.

Yet more Russian infantry, the additional LMG's will fill out the existing sectiosn and provide me 2 additional support selections if selected.

I am rather pleased with myself, the beginings of this project was started around about 7 years ago, originally designed for the Panzer Grenadier Rules, it was only when Chain of Command came along that I had the enthusiasm to complete the project, filling in the gaps for support elements from the guys at Peter Pig and painting up the various unpainted units which had been languishing in the unpainted draw for years.

German 50 Mortars, Flamthrowers and Sniper Teams to stem the Soviet steamroller.

Soviet shock markers for the Russian armour, a great use for those figures supplied in the Battlefront vehicle blisters and Peter Pig surrendering Germans.

Whilst the figures are now complete I still have plenty to learn to nail the the finer details of the Russian tactics as proven by a recent out a few weeks ago against Ade's Germans over at the Wyvern club house.

You would have though 16 support points should have been enough....

But I foolishly put all my eggs in one basket with a JSII, not the best choice with ambushes aplenty, annoying sniper fire and Infantry which falls foul to the German Infantry fire power.

The Railway junction, the objective for the Soviet advance.

The Russian beast over looking the station, but no targets in sight.

The Russians reach the railway junction but are under intense pressure from dug in German Infantry and a Sniper who is intent on taking every NCO out of the game.

With a German jump off point a few meters from the pinned Russians in the wood pile, a German counter attack causes the Russians to break and run, leaving nothing but the JSII intact and a minus 2 on the force morale - Game Over.

Great looking Russians. Hmm, at first I was going to suggest a white cloth with brown dusting - as it may be harder to get the white to show up on a darker cloth. However, As Steve and Phyllion have recommended sounds better. The white cloth may be too stark or bright; muted patches of snow seem like a better route.

Well, your bases in this post look more white than brown, so I would go with a white or an off white felt sheet (or whatever fabric you wish) and dirty it up a lot. Throw old potting soil, coffee grounds, whatever on it, get it proper dirty and grimy so a nice patina develops. I've only seen solid white snow on winter exercises in remote training areas, but in urban/semi-urban areas, particularly after the predatory Soviety barrage, it will be dirty and mucky. My two cents worth.At any rate, best in 2015, look forward to seeing your Ostfront games.And yes, while a JS2 can be a very comforting presence, it's vulnerable. What about artillery prep fire?